Lin-sanity Rekindled Against The Knicks

“Linsanity” was not what it used to be when Jeremy Lin returned to the Madison Square Garden for the first time since he left the New York Knicks during the offseason to sign a multi-year deal with the Houston Rockets.

And Lin, booed most of the time by the once appreciative and “Linsanity”-struck fans, showed he never missed a beat playing against his former team.

Playing beautiful music with new backcourt partner and emerging star James Harden, the Rockets bombed the Knicks with a flurry of baskets from their two young stars on the way to a convincing 109-96 win.

It was the second straight time this season that Lin and the Rockets humiliated the Knicks, actually a fitting follow up to their 131-103 back in Houston.

Though tagged hard by former teammate and Knicks center Tyson Chandler at one point in the game, Lin hardly showed fear. He still drove past the tough New York defense, kicked out pin-point passes and swished jumpers, frustrating the Knicks in the second half.

Lin may not yet be in the level of New York star forward Carmelo Anthony, who missed the game due to an ankle injury, but he did show that he’s on the way to stardom in his 28-point-eight-assist performance.

Though far more important was his response to the tough New York defense – smiling, just picking himself up and acting with utmost professionalism, while not backbiting on his former teammates in anyway.

”I’ve moved on, they’ve moved on,” Lin said in a Yahoo! Sports story. ”We have good memories, but at the same time we’re all in a different place now.”

”It was a lot of fun playing out there and I think our team, we took a step in the right direction,” Lin added. ”And for me, it was great to be back and it was a lot of fun to play on that court again.”